


Second Chances

by AbelQuartz



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anxiety, Babies, F/M, First Meetings, Gen, Hugs, Married Life, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 15:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20428259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbelQuartz/pseuds/AbelQuartz
Summary: [COMM] Steven and Connie have been having a difficult time introducing their child to new people, especially Uncle Lars’ crew of Off Colors. Still, with some persistence, they’re going to keep trying - especially with the chronically nervous Rhodonite, who isn’t too keen on human babies yet…





	Second Chances

**** “_And that’s why I’ll always love yooooou… _”

Steven finished his swaying dance and smiled down at the baby for approval. Sally smiled with an open mouth and burbled as confident a response as any infant could make at that age.

The one constant Steven had kept throughout pregnancy and discussions with Connie was the fact that their child would have musical appreciation, if not musical inclination. That was the bottom line, and he couldn’t be convinced otherwise - not that anyone was trying. Singing and conversation were important parts of the Universe household and always would be, even more so with the baby.

Sally’s responses had thus far been positive. Of course, Steven was always worried inside and expressed his worries to Connie when need be, but the man’s wife could only see the good parent in him as he tended to their child. She watched him twirl in the kitchen with one hand curled around her glass of cold tea and the other propping up her chin. Sally turned her head to Connie, then lifted one chubby little arm in the woman’s direction.

“You want to go to mom? Alright, alright.”

“C’mere, honey.”

The infant gave her grunt of appreciation as Steven carried her over into Connie’s waiting arms. Between parents, she didn’t seem to have a strong preference who held her, or even any signals as to when she wanted to switch. Both Steven and Connie were grateful and ready to take the child off the other’s hands; no matter how many tips Greg could give them, the number one was always to let the other have a break. Greg had mentioned before that Sally seemed to be an easy child, and Steven was quick to remind him that he had been the man’s only point of comparison.

Besides ease, Greg also had to concede that Sarah Rose Universe was by and far one of the prettier babies he had encountered in life. She had inherited Connie’s brown skin and Steven’s button nose, the only real discernible features so far this early in life. Her hair was growing quickly and messily to spread black waves over her head. Each of her round brown eyes was graced with a wave of dark Indian lashes. 

To everyone who saw her, she was a good-looking child. To Steven and Connie, she was the most beautiful baby in the world. Both of them knew they were biased but they at least had precedent. Connie lifted a finger and pressed into the tip of Sally’s nose. The baby gave her mother a perfect toothless smile.

“When’s the crew coming over?” Connie asked, sitting back down.

“Should be, uh, soon. According to Lars.”

“Did he text back?”

As she spoke, Steven’s pocket buzzed, and the two Universes exchanged a raised eyebrow. The man pulled out his phone and nodded.

“So, he’s landed on the beach, and he’ll be coming up first,” Steven said. “Most of the crew’s staying down there but he’s bringing up Rhodonite and Padparadscha.”

“Has Sally met Rhodonite yet?”

“Nope. I think that’s why Padparadscha’s coming along.”

The first crew meeting had not gone over as smoothly as Steven and Connie had hoped. The crew, having never seen an Earth infant, had many awkward questions even after, apparently, Lars had explained in detail some of mammalian biology. Considering that few Gems knew even about the Zoo and the ones that did didn’t know much about humans in general, Lars had admittedly done a decent job at tamping concerns and expectations. 

Sally’s cooperation was another story. The Rutile twins has been the calmest about holding the baby as long as Steven was there to steady them. As soon as she was in the twins’ arms, she was squirming to get out, and the twins practically dropped her back to Steven. Fluorite couldn’t even reach for her without the baby crying. As Lars was explaining that Rhodonite was hiding back on the ship, Padparadscha gasped, and everyone turned to her surprising proclamation. 

“I predict Steven and Connie’s child will not be comfortable with strangers.”

Fussiness wasn’t a disease to be treated or a condition to be cured. Connie’s parents had confirmed that their daughter had been a similar child, whereas Greg had several stories of Steven’s gregarious youth and development. They had to eventually accept that it varied from baby to baby, but it didn’t stop them from trying to come up with workarounds and exposure for their child. Steven suggested a frequent party schedule to bring friends and neighbors around until Connie politely shut him down as the potential long-suffering cohost. The Crystal Gems were around frequently enough to make Sally feel comfortable for the most part with their presence. Greg had a way with babies that mystified both Steven and Connie; Sally gave him no trouble whatsoever. It seemed that the only way to ensure that their daughter got over her wariness was time and patience.

Steven furrowed his brow. The man rolled his shoulders and turned towards the door. Connie rocked Sally gently, as the baby put her hand in her mouth and stared after her father.

“Where’re you off to?”

“I’m gonna catch Lars on the beach and work out the kinks and see what he wants the battle plan to be.”

“Go forth and conquer?”

“If I’m not back in thirty minutes, I’ve been captured in space again.”

“I’ll tell Lapis and Peridot to get the ship ready.”

Steven grinned and gave his wife a thumbs-up as he stepped out onto the porch. He was mostly kidding. There were certainly still beings in this galaxy that wanted him captured, but none of them were around Earth as far as he knew, certainly not with Captain Lars Barriga on patrol. One or two incidents and victories had been enough to secure this sector clear. The other Diamonds allowed Lars and the Off Colors to continue their work under Steven’s pseudo-jurisdiction. The laws of space were a little odd to Steven and Lars even after all these years.

Some things never changed. Steven paused to look over at the latest addition to Lars’ fleet, the blue-and-black FTL cruiser christened the _ Fathom Splitter _. It was a peaceful acquisition as far as Steven could remember, although that Emerald’s grudge against Lars was not to be taken lightly. The ship was a little larger and smoother than the previous iterations, with oblong plating instead of the previous Homeworld generation’s geometric sharpness.

In a way, the ships grew where Lars couldn’t, and that thought churned Steven’s stomach as he came down the stairs. He knew exactly what Lars would look like as he walked down the beach, exactly the height and silhouette. The pink teenager at least had the good fortune to spring for new outfits from around the world. This month’s cape billowed behind him in opalescent flaps, tastefully tattered to contrast with the navy jumpsuit. The years had taken their toll, but Lars was just as much of a space captain as ever, as much as the forced destiny would permit.

As he drew closer, he had to raise his head to look Steven in the face, grinning broadly. Steven paused and offered a salute, and Lars did the same. It took a second for the two men to break into snorting laughter and give each other a hug. Steven picked his companion up and squeezed, patting him on the back.

“Hrf! Captain.”

“Good to see you too, Steven.”

He knew that he should have been more jarred as an adult by the way that Lars’ voice had never changed. But the rusty snark became embedded in the man’s head, a constant rather than a contrast, and it scared him a little when he thought about it. Lion’s eternal growling had been expected, of course, but he wasn’t human. When he had been a teenager himself, Steven had worried about staying the same age and going mad as everyone grew up around him. Madness was a false flag, it seemed; Lars was doing okay.

Steven put Lars back on the beach. The captain brushed himself off, then gestured towards the spaceship.

“It’s just the two today. I think Padparadscha is gonna be helpful again for Rhodonite,” he said. “She’s still a bit worried about everything.”

“It’s always weird, you know? Either Gems are totally cool with babies or they’re, like, terrified of them.”

“Yeah! I even explained what babies were all about and that...didn’t help at all, actually.”

“Explained how?”

“You know, videos and stuff.”

Lars cleared his throat at Steven’s expression, swiftly waving the panic off.

“_ Educational _ videos,” he sighed.

“Jeez, I was gonna say…”

The two laughed nervously for a moment before Lars turned towards his ship and heaved a deep breath. Having the sudden fates of four past renegades - five? - on your shoulders couldn’t have been easy for someone in Lars’ position, but the years had turned him into a father figure on his own. Steven had been trained in leadership his whole life where Lars had had it dumped upon him.

“Are they gonna be in the ship for a bit?” Steven asked.

“Actually, I was wondering if we could bring Sally down to Rhodonite here, if you and Connie are okay with that.”

“Yeah! I don’t think she should be going into space yet, though, so no interstellar babysitting.”

“Cross my heart.”

Steven waved Lars back and the two started up the bluff towards the stairs. From where the cockpit of the ship was, Steven knew that Lars could see where the Big Donut used to be, where Steven used to walk from these very steps to the edge of this quiet town. Glancing back, the man could see Lars looking straight ahead, still keeping his smile for Steven, as fraternal as he could manage.

When the two reached the porch, Steven opened up the door and stepped aside, leaning on the top of the frame as Lars gave him one last raise of the eyebrow. Was the scar smaller than the last time Steven had seen? It was too hard to tell in the motion. Lars strode into the house and raised his arms, gasping with familial delight to the baby.

“Hello! Hey, it’s Uncle Lars! Hey, Sally!” he cooed.

Steven let the door drop behind them as Connie shook her head. Sally, upon recognizing the pink teenager, made no motions but stared with the same blank intensity as any baby would. Connie smiled as she handed off her child to the space captain.

“Hey, Lars,” she laughed. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s great to be here. You guys doing okay?”

“You know it. Busy busy.”

Lars bobbed up and down, rocking Sally gently as he wiggled a finger near her chin. To his credit, it was difficult to say exactly what a baby wanted in terms of random stimulus, but Sally wasn’t crying or whining, so that was good enough for the three of them. Connie stretched her arms up in the air and gave Steven a look. He nodded in agreement. After all, they both had reason to be proud of Lars.

“So, Connie!” Steven said. “Lars was thinking we could all go down to the ship together, see if Rhodonite and Sally can meet there.”

“Okay! Yeah, I mean - “

Connie raised her hands and shrugged. It was one possibility, certainly. Dragging the Gems up to the house might not be the better option regardless. Steven stopped himself before he gave in to overthinking. There were questions of environment, weather, light levels, and so many more variables to consider, and he didn’t want to cause himself any more grief than necessary. The more he worried, the more it took a toll on his family. 

Lars tickled Sally right under the cheek, making her squirm. He smiled softly and nodded at Steven. 

“Look you two, I can stay here around the house if you guys need a babysitter at all. The crew’s fine by themselves, and y’know, Sally’s an important part of Earth and all…”

The genuine nature of Lars’ rambling made Steven wonder for a moment, but leadership was perhaps enough to change the young man’s outcome on his relationship with kids. Steven’s childhood had seen its share of a belligerent teenager with snappy remarks, and now that same teenager was here holding his firstborn. Did Lars realize it, too? Steven tried not to let himself think about it too much. Questions could be saved for later.

“You’ll have to fight all the other Gems for that,” Connie snorted, striding past the three to the door. “And Greg. And Vidalia. And the twins.”

“Oh geez, I’m gonna have to talk to everyone now that I’m back in town, aren’t I.”

Steven patted him on the back as they started out the door.

“We won’t tell anyone you’re here if you don’t want us to.”

As they left the house, Connie whistled at the _ Fathom Splitter _. Lars grinned proudly, and Connie pretended to double back and elbow Steven in the ribs.

“The Dondai’s been good, but I could use a piece of THAT,” she joked.

If the remainder of Greg’s fortune had any say, then Connie and Steven could get any Earth vehicle they wanted, and Lars had the ability to pull some strings to get them a little spaceship if Lapis and Peridot couldn’t build another one. But it was all for the joke - really, the Dondai was a good enough car for everything they needed, and Greg could bring up the van for any larger issues. They didn’t travel much, certainly not as much as the Off Colors, because the town and the warp pads had everything they needed to get around. Hopefully in the years to come, Lars wasn’t going to turn into a spacefaring version of Earth’s car fanatics.

Lars passed Sally back to Steven as they approached the ship’s doors. He leaned on the side panel and spread his fingers, lighting up a series of white lines that glowed and snaked as they came to life and revealed the door. The teenager took one deep breath and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

“I’m gonna try and convince her to come out to meet you guys,” Lars said. “She’s gotten so much better, but she needs that push every now and then. You know how it is.”

As Lars stepped inside the ship, Sally made a noise and reached after him, leaning as far as she could out of Steven’s iron grip. The man chuckled and let her reach as far as she could, but he wasn’t going to let her move an inch.

“Maybe when you get older we’ll let Uncle Lars take you up into space, kiddo. You’re grounded for now, though. Sorry,” he murmured.

He turned to ask Connie what she thought would be an appropriate time to let their child explore the cosmos, but the woman had her arms crossed, lip chewed, swaying in concern. She caught Steven’s eye and nodded towards the ship.

“Is he really going to be okay?” Connie said.

“I have faith in Lars. He’s got enough heart in him. I mean, what’s there to worry about?”

“Just - us. And Steven, it hasn’t even been a year. I’m just worried.”

Lars’ return to earth way back when had brought him home to Sadie Miller, his one and only, and for a time the feeling of reparation and reunion had been enough for them. Steven had watched the two young adults travel together and learn and play, watched them talk for once, heart to heart. Then, they had all watched Sadie grow up. At the same time, Lars grew older, but he was the same pink teenager as the day he had died. They had all watched the divide between Sadie and Lars grow into arguments, into crying, into dread and discomfort. Sadie was human and Lars was no longer. She told him so many times that he was like a walking memory, an old photograph churned through a digital filter. Now, Lars could fly anywhere on the planet where Sadie was advancing her producing career, and he simply chose not to.

It was right of Connie to be concerned, but it was Steven’s duty to bring peace to her thoughts. He cradled their child and stroked her cheek with the tips of his fingers, absent-minded in his affection. Sally reached and put one tiny hand on the curve of his knuckle.

“If seeing...us would bother him so much, I don’t think he would have come, right?” the man said. “But even then, he’s not doing it for himself. He really does care for Sally. We’re a big family here. Maybe Lars is just seeing the world through other people’s eyes.”

“True…”

She didn’t sound convinced. But, it wasn’t Steven’s job to convince her. As Sally found a loose edge on Steven’s shirt and brought it to her mouth, the lines of the ship’s seamless door glowed again, and the door slid back to reveal Lars in all his nervous glory with two of Rhondonite’s eyes peeping around the corner and Padparadscha next to him on the other side. The little Gem’s hands clasped in delight.

“Captain!” Padparadscha said, “I predict that Steven and Connie will have brought their baby down to us again!”

“You’re sure on the money. C’mon, Rhodonite, remember what we talked about?”

To her credit, Rhodonite was leaps and bounds ahead of her old fearful self way back as an exile on Homeworld. Adjusting to Earth and the life of an outlaw was the most difficult for her out of all the Off Colors, at least from what Steven and Connie could tell. Still, there had been changes, adjustments to her temperment, definitely to her outfit. Her midriff was symmetrical now, with even bands of cloth on the left and right around her stomach’s Gem, and her frills had been forgotten in favor of a short open vest to let her pearl out. Rhodonite lifted her eyes to Connie and Steven and managed a smile, even with three out of her four arms in various stages of cradling herself.

“It’s good to see you guys,” she said.

Her voice was steady, and she relaxed once she knew that Connie and Steven were there to… Well, there was the question. Steven wasn’t sure what Rhodonite was expecting with Sally, or what Lars was planning on. The gist would be just to get both of them adjusted to one another, but from what he knew, that was another tiny train wreck in a series of wrecks along the path that was parenthood.

“You too, Rhodonite!” Connie said. “Thanks for coming down to see all of us. I know it’s not easy.”

“You’re telling me! Even with the captain’s help, I’m still not sure what to do. The, uh, baby? She didn’t seem to like us very much.”

“Uh, we’re trying to change that. But she’s young!” Steven interjected. “The more people she meets now, the better she’ll be about it in the future! Besides, you and the crew are just the kind of people we want to have around.”

“Shouldn’t she be around...other humans, though?”

Connie smirked at Steven and tapped her chin knowingly. 

“Steven’s not all the way human, either. And maybe Sally’s gonna be the same way. We don’t know yet! But either way, she’s going to be around Gems her whole life. Right?”

“Y-yeah, that’s true!”

Rhodonite stepped onto the sand with her captain’s grip releasing her. The Gem reached over and took Connie’s hand with one of her free arms. Her others were curled up as she walked towards Steven. Sally, bored with Steven’s shirt, turned her eyes up to meet Rhodonite’s. The Gem stopped in her tracks and her curls seemed to stand on end. In the background, Padparadscha and Lars craned their heads around to see the standoff.

“Sally, this is our friend, Rhodonite,” Steven murmured to his daughter. “Rhodonite, this is our baby, Sally.”

Sand pinged against the spaceship in the silence, picked up by a wind that blew in from the sea, as if curious to see the first meeting itself. The fact that there was silence at all was a positive point as far as Steven and Connie were concerned; it meant that Sally wasn’t crying. The child continued to stare until she made the executive decision to thrust out one stubby little hand and make grabbing motions at Rhodonite. The Gem shrank back as all the gathered adults gasped in elation.

“Wh-what’s she doing?!”

“She likes you!”

“What’s that mean? What do _ I _ do now?”

“Sally likes her!” Padparadscha cried.

Steven beamed and adjusted the infant to hand her over. Connie forced Rhodonite to let go and guided her hand forwards. Rhodonite looked as if she might keel over, but she reached with one shaking finger on her left hand meeting the girl halfway. With all the strength of her age and moxie, Sally grabbed Rhodonite by the digit and curled all her fingers around in a miniature vice.

“Do you want to hold her?” Connie asked. 

“I...I don’t know, should I?”

“Give it a shot!” Lars said. “Wow, I’m actually impressed.”

“Impressed?”

“Yeah! I’ve never seen Sally wanna leave Steven or Connie like this except for Greg sometimes the Crystal Gems.”

“I guess,” Rhodonite mumbled. “This is still weird.”

Of course it was. But Steven knew that all weird things could be normal, and he hoped that Rhodonite would stay as part of their giant Gem family. He hoped all of them would. The man adjusted himself again and raised Sally in both hands, with some extra grip underneath in case she decided to take a leap of faith. The girl rocked as much as she could into Rhodonite’s arms, always safe with her father supporting her. Even with four arms to cradle the child, Rhodonite looked as if she might collapse under the stress. A few seconds passed by as Sally adjusted herself, clearly content to be settled in the Gem’s arms. The baby even smiled toothlessly, giving Rhodonite a firm burble of infantile wisdom with a drop of drool running down her chin. The fusion stared for a moment, then looked up and turned to each of the humans around her in turn. Just like the baby in her arms, Rhodonite slowly let a smile creep onto her face.

“You’re going to do great!” Padparadscha sighed. “Sally’s going to be so happy.”

“Oh, I bet.” Rhodonite chuckled to herself. “I can’t...believe that I was getting so worked up. After the last time, when she was so angry, I guess I just had it in my head that she’d be mad to see me too. What did I do?”

Steven spread his arms open and shrugged. He was elated that there was some kind of progress made, and he wished for one second he could understand just what his baby was feeling. But it didn’t matter in the moment. Connie came and leaned against Steven, wrapping her arms around one of his.

“You’re just you!” the woman said. “And, well, babies can be weird about things. Humans don’t always work in the ways you expect. They have odd tastes, strange feelings and habits. I don’t think there’s ever gonna be an explanation. But it doesn’t matter as long as she likes you, right?”

“That’s right. Right!” 

Rhodonite smiled down at Sally, beads of anxiety on her skin. But the baby merely put a hand into her mouth and looked around at the gathered crowd, without any cares in the world except for her little nest in the Gem’s arms. 

“She’s so small, so light!” Rhodonite said, marveling at Sally. “And all human babies start off like this? They’re all tiny?”

“I mean, tiny is relative. I was a pretty big baby. Connie, not so much. I think Sally there was right in the middle. Maybe she’ll by a big girl like her pops!”

“Captain - were you a baby, too?”

For once, Lars faltered. The teenager looked at Rhodonite’s wonder, and then at the baby in her arms. Even Sally looked over at Lars. It occurred to Steven that the captain wouldn’t have brought up much of his childhood with the Gems aboard his vessel, the crew having little to no relationship to his Earthly past. The truth was that neither he nor Connie knew much about baby Lars and the only founded memories they had to go off of were with Lars and Ronaldo Fryman as adolescents.

“Yeah? Yeah, I was,” Lars said finally. He rubbed the back of his head, and Steven could see discomfort spreading over his features. “Just like any other human.”

“And if you had grown, you could have created a baby of your own? You should try! Lookit, Captain! Her - her little round cheeks, and her big old eyes, and - “

Rhodonite’s excited stumbling was cur short by a cloud of mixed feelings over her captain’s cheeks. Immediately, Connie sighed and raised a hand to go over and comfort the young man, but Steven put a hand on her shoulder, and the couple exchanged a look. Lars was standing as straight as ever with his eyes unfocused ahead of him. The young man who had greeted Steven coming out of the spaceship was there, but he had been buried by a trigger in the Gem’s words. His arms hung limply with his muscles twitching, ready to shoot up to protect him from whatever they were going to throw. Inside the teenager’s body, Steven’s magic could sense some underlying hesitation, a worry, a secret. The man turned to Padparadscha and raised his eyebrows, asking silently for her take. Padparadscha nodded slowly, then let out a small, sad sigh. 

“I predict that Captain Lars will miss Sadie,” she said.

“I just - “

The group watched Lars laugh to himself, nervously tousling his hair. There was nothing funny in his voice, but the brain was giving him all the energy it could to ensure that he could get through this. The young man nodded in silent agreement to his own predicament.

“I guess watching Sally kinda just makes me wish I could’ve had kids, you know?” Lars said. “I could have been okay. Well, now that I’ve actually been around a while. I dunno if my brain’s actually grown since the pink stuff.”

“Lars, it’s not too late. And I’m sure that - well, you can adopt, or find a surrogate?” Steven asked.

“I would’ve wanted my own. With someone I love.”

“But - “

This time it was Connie that stopped Steven with a stern look. The man stepped back, and his wife took a deep breath.

“You’ve been to the doctor, haven’t you,” Connie said.

Steven furrowed his brow, but when he looked at Lars, the teenager had his hands in his jumpsuit pockets and was blushing just slightly under the pink pallor of his skin. Connie had hit on something. She nodded and grimaced.

“Nothing?”

“Nope. Nothing viable, anyway.”

Steven glanced between them, and it took him a moment before he understood. It seemed there had been more side effects to resurrection than they had known before. Even though he had never, ever regretted saving Lars’ life, he wished he could have controlled it better, understood what would happen to prepare his friend for his new eternity. The hardships seemed to outweigh the benefits whenever Lars wanted to really grow up.

The silence was broken with a babble from Sally, who reached up impatiently to Rhodonite’s face, demanding some attention in the awkward silence that connected all the grown-ups. Rhodonite brought up another hand within grabbing reach. She glanced from Steven to Connie as the infant gripped her fingers, clearing her throat.

“What do I do? Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, she just needs some love.”

“Oh, I, uh - “

Rhodonite began to freeze up again. Sally clearly had no qualms about continuing to badger her current caretaker, squealing one impressive note and attempting to shake the Gem’s fingers around. The Gem laughed, but everyone could hear the underlying nervousness. Once she had gained the baby’s trust, it seemed it was only a matter of time before the baby was ready to boss her around, and poor Rhodonite hadn’t expected that. Steven couldn’t help but smile at his daughter, wishing that this could have been a better ending, that they wouldn’t have to let things go off on a negative note.

Two gloved hands came over, one of them rubbing over Sally’s black fuzz, making the baby temporarily turn her head to see who was interrupting her. Lars nodded to Rhodonite and slid his hands underneath to cradle Sally, relieving his nervous strategist of her organic burden. As much as she had loved holding the baby, Rhodonite was visible relieved that Lars was taking her. Sally seemed to accept her new charge, the familiar captain, and only fussed for a second before giving up the fight. 

Steven walked over and put a hand around the young man’s shoulders. Connie stepped over and took Rhodonite by one arm. The Gem turned and tried to smile.

“Did I do a good job?”

“Absolutely.”

Padparadscha trotted over and put a comforting hand on her fellow Gem’s leg, nodding in agreement. She didn’t even have to tell Rhodonite that she could predict her success. Lars nodded to his crew members before once more smiling down at the baby. Sally merely yawned. Steven stroked his daughter’s head with one hand as the baby began to close her eyes, warmed by the sun’s softness through the clouds. When Lars looked back up to Steven, his eyes were as hard-set and serious as they had ever been. And yet, he smiled.

“Is it okay to come back once in a while? To see her?”

“Only if you’re seeing all of us. But we might need a sitter if the Gems are off on a mission. Think you can handle her?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

“Heh. Thank you, Lars.”

“Thank _ you _ for helping Rhodonite.”

Was it really Steven’s, or Connie’s, or anyone’s help that had led Rhodonite to a positive encounter? Only Sally and her unpredictability had made that magic happen. The risk had taken them all here together again, with the Universes watching their daughter in the hands of an immortal teenager. Steven looked back at Rhodonite.

The Gem had her free arms clasped together and all four eyes beaming down in relief at the baby. Out of all the mishaps that could have happened, things had turned out okay in the end. For all that Lars had gone through, Steven watched as a new smile came over his face. The sleeping Sally Universe didn’t care about any of the hardships. As long as she had her family, found or otherwise, she was content to nap the day away. Steven squeezed Lars by the shoulder. There was rest to be found.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, anonymous commissioner~ Enjoy the sweetness.


End file.
